Do it all again????

[flyincheap]

OK not a poll, dont like em but just curious.

I would like to hear from all, any experience level, any background, any job type, ie corporate, regional, cargo, major etc.

If you were 18, ooops some of you might be 18, just kidding, but if you were 18 and what you know today would you choose aviation as a career choice. Take all you know into consideration.

pay
travel
sights you have seen
people you have met
etc

Thanks so much
Hope this gets good!

 

[T-Gates]

I'm not too far removed from 18 and I have experienced incredible highs and lows already. But I wouldn't trade any of it for the world.

 

[EatSleepFly]

I'm also not too far removed from 18 (a few years though), but I would still do it again in a heartbeat. Might change a few small things though....

 

[Ailerongirl]

I'd change one major thing.......I'd start off as pilot.

Guys dig chick pilots

Seriously though, I'd probably change the order in which I did things, but only to have made aviation a bigger part of my life when I was younger. (And by younger, I mean 18)

 

[enigma]

I wouldn't do it again in a thousand years. I'd start a business, make a lot of money, buy me a Pitts and a TurboCommander, and fly when I wanted to.

That way I could:
sleep in my own bed,
see my girls volleyball games,
see my sons symphony concerts,
take my wife out on my anniversary/valentines/her birthday,
see my kids birthday partys in person instead of on video tape,
drink with who I want instead of the FA's on my line,
and last but not least, SPEND CHRISTMAS AT HOME, not in a second rate hotel in ACY/CLE/CVN/ALS/IGM, etc, etc, etc.

enigma

 

[steveg]

Listen to Enigma!

Smart man. Spend the time and money it takes to have a career in flying, and go do something worthwhile. Good luck!

 

[Smoking Man]

I now wish at 18 some one would have told me that one day I would have a wife and a child, (another one one the way) and would like to be home with them instead of the awsome overnights in HPN at the HOLE weslian in armonk.

 

[501261]

I'm with Enigma, no way!

I love to fly and travel, but I should have gone and gotten an MBA and started a business.

The aviation industry is pretty depressing. You've got the pissant owners that don't even have a high school degree, getting lower and lower wages from these punks that think all they need to do is build some cross country/multi/turbine/jet time. Then they finally have enough time and they get hired and they show there pisspoor attitude by saying cargo/charter/Mesa/regionals/LLC's suck because they realize that flying's not all its cracked up to be.

Nope I'd love to have found another way to provide for my family, then I could go out and buy a motorglider (no need for a tow), just sailing the day away.

 

[350DRIVER]

Absolutely not..... Without a second thought I would have finished my pre-med degree and pursued a medical career and would have been well on my way to becoming a cardio-thorasic surgeon. It would have been much more enjoyable to fly for pleasure and enjoyment versus having to do it as a "job". The flying profession has changed so much over the years and it is not what it once was. I am sure Draginass can give a much better reply than I can.


The pay is not good, the industry is in the gutter, majors are in big trouble, etc.


What once "was" went down the drain when 75+ years of tradition went away when TWA died.

I can only imagine what this industry will look like in 5 to 10 years from now...

Run fast and don't tread water, fly when you want to not when you have to.

3 5 0

 

[VNugget]

I'm doing it not again but for the first time, and yes.

Think of it this way... Since elementary school, I've spent my life toiling away some place I'd rather not be, only to come home for a few meager hours of R&R only to go to bed, wake up, and do it over again the next day. (Don't get me wrong, I value my education, but you still see the picture I'm painting.) So far that's been going on for what -- 15 years? In another 2 or 3, I finish college, and for what? To spend another 40 years doing the same thing, day in day out, 9 to 5, taking on the misery just to be able to afford a place to live, but is that living? Every waking moment, I'd be burdened with the impending thought of going back in the grind the next day. Do wellin elementary school so I can prepare for middle school. Do well in middle school so I can prepare for high school. Do well in high school so I can prepare for college. Do well in college so I can prepare for work. And to what end? Do well in work so I can prepare to finally relax and live my life when my joints are falling apart and I need fake teeth?

No, I will not spend my life hacking away at something I'd rather be not doing just to earn the privilige of a few scant moments away. Since I will spend the majority of my life working, or worrying about work, I will rather do something I love. I know what you're thinking; but no, I am not lookig foward to a worry-free cakewalk with six figures for the rest of my life. I hold no such illuisions. I have been reading these forums for upwards of a year, and thanks to you, know how tough of a road lies ahead. But I am prepared to undertake it since that's where my heart would lie.

 

[Vladimir Lenin]

screw it, I should've been a doctor, or at least a lawyer

 

[rvsm410]

I second Vnugget

I too would have continued on in aviation, though licensed at 19 in 1978 when the airline hiring was terrible. Ended up working the corporate routine for 19years, Raised a family, flew Short term Military time, flew GA the whole time just to loose my medical to diabetes right after I made the career change and before I could get to the commercial Airline world.

I changed careers Again to dispatch worked for a year until 9-11 hit been trying to return to a 121 operation since.

I believe you should follow your heart, it makes you a happier person in the long run with no regrets, just do it for the right reasons, know what kind of life style you will have, then do it! Life is short, you never know when things out of your control will take away the things you love, so do it while you can so there is no regrets in the end.....

 

[FurloughedAgain]

Absolutely NOT. There is no way that I would have put my family through the decades of uncertainty and unstability that this so-called "career" has offered.

I would have still flown recreationally or even perhaps as a flight instructor from time to time -- but I would have pursued either lawschool or perhaps something in the computer field.

If I saw myself at 18 there are also a few ladies i'd like to warn myself about. lol

Can't fantasize too much about time-machines though i'm afraid. I've made my bed and I intend to sleep in it.

 

[Timebuilder]

So much I would change. Wouldn't you?

I might have insisted that my Dad keep that Bellanca, gotten my certs, including A&P, and moved to California when I was 21. That summer, the childhood friend with whom I built a chopper moved to hollywood and started painting tanks for bikes. He became an art director, and then a very important producer (Apollo 13, etc). Who can guess the different turns I might have taken...

If I had played my cards right, I'd own several airplanes, and fly when I like, when other committments permit. Now, I have to take that and make it happen while I am still young enough to do so.

 

[MetroSheriff]

I would have gone to law school and bought my own airplane.

 

[Vladimir Lenin]

If I saw myself at 18 there are also a few ladies i'd like to warn myself about. lol

ain't that the truth, had it not been for them, aviation may have been a little more fruitful

 

[Standby 1]

Sadly, I'd probably do it again since I'm too dumb to learn from my mistakes. But I agree with those who say it is much smarter to go into a career that pays better, has a better sked and allows you to own your aircraft and fly for the sheer fun of it.

The grass will always be greener, though. I know a handful of successful doctors and attorneys who have chucked it all because they thought flying professionally just had to be more fulfilling than being a weekend warrior.

Not that flying for a living is the worst thing in the world, mind you. It's just that it's difficult to see the benefits when you never get to see the light of day, in an airplane that you are just praying holds together till you get there, single pilot, IMC, and trying to find some altitude that will give you a break from the ice. It's nights like those that make you scratch your head and wonder what the heck you were thinking of when you decided to be a pilot.

 

[shamrock]

I'll always remember talking to a Bonanza owner when I was working at an FBO about 5 years ago. He had his own business and when he found out I wanted a flying career he told me to go be a plumber and buy my own plane because working as a pilot is the best way to kill your love of flying. Now I don't know if plumbing specifically would support my habit, but the sentiment was all too true. If the industry turns around in the coming years then I'll likely change my tune, but as of right now, as a wholly owned pilot in the middle of the DAL/ASA/CMR/CHQ/SKW pissing match, I question my choice of career.

But, like Standby said, the grass is always greener. I get paid an almost livable wage (for now) doing something I enjoy (occasionally) with good people (usually) so things could be a lot worse.

 

[TWA Dude]

A desk job means the death of me. I spent a whole year enjoying my furlough making $35/hr doing an easy office job. It just ain't for me. The only reason I wasn't flying at age 18 is that I'd read that to be an airline pilot required 20/20 uncorrected vision. Thank goodness for the ADA! I finally started flying at age 22. Flying is who I am and I'm powerless to change that.

My furlough certainly burst my bubble about my career but now that I've fought my way back to a livable flying job I can look foward to having more fun.

I'll let you know if I truly made the right choice when I turn 60.

Dude

 

[mrmarcus81]

Well I am not old enough to take a wife and financial constraints into consideration, but the limited experience that I have tells me that nothing in life is guaranteed and all one can do is follow what is in his or her heart. The fact that nothing is guaranteed makes it a good idea to do something like real estate or some other passive income entity. I am far from being airline marketable and I am aware of what it will take to get there. I am willing to sacrifice to fulfill what my heart wants me to do.
I will admit that I may have taken an alternate route to obtaining my airline career but if one were to study the career they were getting into I think one of the first descriptions of the job would be being away from home weekends odd hours and holidays. As a matter of fact that is on the COEX online application.
I guess if it was money everyone was after they made a big mistake, but if it was the joy of flying then that joy should still be there right?